Coast Guard Offloads $110 Million in Cocaine in Miami Beach

About $110 million worth of cocaine was offloaded by the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami Beach Tuesday morning

About $110 million worth of cocaine was offloaded by the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami Beach Tuesday morning.

The cocaine, about 6,000 pounds, was offloaded at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach by the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Legare.

The cocaine was seized during two separate drug interdictions, Coast Guard officials said.

Officials said about 2,400 kilos of the cocaine were found floating a hundred miles south of Jamaica after a Coast Guard crew rescued some sinking fishermen.

The rest was found off the coast of Colombia when guardsmen shot out the engine of a go-fast boat that wouldn't slow down.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Meaghan Gies said the seizure was part of the Coast Guard's Operation Martillo, an international effort targeting cocaine shipments heading to the United States, usually through Miami.

"On the streets typically wholesale value we see, that's probably gonna triple, so we're looking at around $350 million street value cocaine that's coming in today," Gies said. "It's huge."

In January, the Coast Guard offloaded about $37 million in cocaine that was seized during a drug bust just south of the Dominican Republic.

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